Shortly afterwards we lean that Helen’s cause for the distress she has been put through is her step father, who is described to have quite a nefarious attitude at times. We learn from Helen that he has before beaten a servant to death through his own anger outlet and also about the very unfortunately timed death of her sister, that seems to be more of a coincidence than anything else, for it was a death that made Helen’s step father a wealthier man. This on its own makes our heart skip a beat, for it puts the suspect role on a member of Helen’s own family, and we are always in suspicion that he at least had something to do with Julia’s death, if not the main perpetrator. We find out that Helen is due to marry just like her sister was before her murder, and that the Stepfather could once again pull off another scandalous stunt to earn himself some more money.
Once Helen had left, Dr. Roylott appears to us for the first time in Holmes’ doorway. ‘So tall was he that the top of his hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span across it from side to side.’ He is described as having ‘A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow from the sun, and marked with every evil passion’ he is also said to have ‘deep, bile shot eyes’ and a ‘high, thin fleshless nose’ which resembled ‘a fierce old bird of prey.’ From this and an earlier description of him by his stepdaughter, from which we learn that he has killed two people already we realise that he has particularly violent tendencies. Suspense is created by the description of Roylott as such a dangerous character, and because of this we fear for the safety of Holmes, Watson and Miss Hudson. Our picture of Roylott as a dangerous and violent man is reinforced when he bends the poker with his bare hands and then hurls it into the fireplace ‘snarling’ at Holmes before leaving.
Watson and Holmes, intrigued by the case that Helen has presented them with, soon find their way to the house of Dr. Roylott to examine Julia’s room, where Helen was presently sleeping due to reconstruction. This brings tension to the story immediately, because Helen is sleeping in the room where her Sister was murdered, at a time so close to her wedding. As you can see all the pieces are slowly slotting together, and the picture is becoming a lot clearer and it seems not that all these things are slotting into place just my coincidence. There were also items in the room that led to no use, a bell rope that led to nowhere, and a ventilator that does not ventilate, it simply led from Dr. Roylott’s room, to Julia’s. As readers were study the evidence ourselves, and bring all our suspicion to Dr Roylott, raising suspense in the story.
When Holmes and Watson are making their way to the house at night, a baboon shrieks and runs across their view, scaring the both of the,. The image used was one of a ‘grotesque child.’ This image used gives a very strong picture in our mind. We can guess that it is the baboon which is described, which is one of the animals Dr. Roylott keeps in the grounds, but it gives an eerie feel to the mood of the book. A baboon may not scare someone, however, a the image of a grotesque child is not one thought of regularly and reminds us of the tricks the night can play on our minds. This heightens our suspense as we realise the fear of Holmes and Watson. This also helps remind us that if the baboon is at loose in the yard, then the cheetah must also be at large.
Holmes and Watson’s only way to solve the Mystery was to travel at night to the Manor, and climb through one of the windows into Julia’s room. During their walk across the land, we are very tense even without anything happening, for we know that Dr. Roylott keeps the strangest of animals, a baboon and a cheetah. Scaring the duo, an imagine runs across their path shrieking, not seen due to the darkness, but described as a ‘Grotesque child’ which is not the most easing thing to see in the dark. The anticipation at this moment rises, knowing that it is not only ourselves as readers who are held in this tension, but realizing that Holmes and Watson are scared, it almost makes our mind lose their sense of invincibility as characters in the book, which makes us comprehend that they are only mortal, and no match for the cheetah that must be roaming the grounds.
We know that Holmes as a detective is always ahead of everyone else, even Watson is trusty sidekick. He had already noticed the ventilator connecting the two rooms and the bell rope that hung over the bed, and the fact that the bed was bolted into place and could not be moved. All these pieces of evidence link uncannily, and by now we all know that something is bound to happen in the tense grip of nightfall. Knowing that the ventilator is the only possible way of Roylott connecting himself between the two rooms, it is obvious that it has something to do with the murder of Julia. When the snake drops through the ventilator, under the darkness we cannot see anything, the dark itself is tense enough, but to be attacked by a creature in the dark, or to be attacking a creature in the dark, is a very anxious moment in the story, and it is where the Tension peaks. Hearing the scream of Dr. Roylott only means that the story has ended in the same way as any decent detective story would have, the villain has ended up dead due to his own devious deeds, and the innocent can life without fearing.
In Conclusion I believe that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has created tension very well in his story, and by making the evidence slot together piece by piece it also allows the reader to interact with the story itself, trying to guess the conclusion before you reach the end of the story. There are certain “red herrings” in the story such as the gypsies being mentioned for no apparent reason, and the little involvement the cheetah had in the story, but if were not kept on our toes then it wouldn’t be so suspenseful…
